h4brewing said:
Here,
It is hard to tell in the picture. It looks like filament is forming and possibly ANOTHER infection already. How long in can you tell if its going to be infected? Can baking soda be used to sanitize?
First, baking soda is not a sanitizer and does not sanitize. Witha few exceptions, everyone will recommend a commercial sanitizer mean to for and commonly used when making homebrew. Some use Iodine (It is pretty toxic to the environment and is not permitted to be washed down the driveway in many places) and some use StarSan. I prefer starsan since it is fast, easy, effective and is OK for me to toss down my driveway. Some folks use bleach too but bleach is also very toxic and not allowed down my driveway.
Infections come from equipment that is not properly cleaned then sanitized. Cleaning is paramount. You can only sanitize clean things. Luckily, there are great products that are designed for and work brilliantly. A lot of folks use PBW specifically because it is designed for brewing and works as designed. You can use other stuff like oxyclean along with tsp to clean but I have had much better and reliable performance with PBW.
When making beer, it is advisable to sanitize everything that comes in contact with cooled wort. Make sure everything is covered after sanitizing and re-sanitize anything can could be contaminated again. Once the wort is cooled below 140F, cover it. When transferring to a carboy or bucket, cover the carboy or bucket. Do not allow anything to blow or fall into the fermentation vessel. Dust particles carry yeast and bacteria that can infect your beer.
Make sure the wort is very well oxygenated. be sure to pitch healthy yeast in the right quantity. These help the yeast overwhelm any invaders.
I don't know how you are making your beer, so I can't be sure why the color is what it is. Yellow is not uncommon for some beers. A wheat beer with a pale malt can be yellow.
Sometimes you can see the infection in the fermentation if whatever is infecting was able to grow faster than the yeast. That is kind of rare. You can tell as early as a week. Many take a couple weeks and some much longer and get more prevalent over time.
Good Luck and Happy Brewing.